Chapter 37

Zheng Feifei’s last two sentences before hanging up were especially firm. She must have gone through something difficult, faced some hardships, to have changed this much.

Going to Shacheng was the right choice, and the sooner, the better.

But Shu Fu had just arrived in Lou Yuncheng and knew nothing about the entry permit requirements.

As she pondered this, she opened Cheng Yu’s message.

His message was simple, just one line. It mainly referred to the tornadoes that had formed over several bodies of water due to the heavy rain and hurricane last night. Lou Yuncheng had suffered significant damage, and he was checking to see if she was okay.

He was being considerate, and Shu Fu quickly typed a reply: Sorry, I was a bit busy this morning and missed your call. I’m fine, just a little shaken, but nothing serious. Thank you, Captain Cheng.

After a while, Cheng Yu replied, just like last time, with a single character: Mm.

Shu Fu: …

But soon after, he called her with a voice message.

As she answered, she couldn’t help but think, Older people really don’t like texting. “Captain Cheng,” she greeted.

“You’re okay over there?” His end wasn’t as quiet as hers. She could hear voices, machines, and general noise—it sounded chaotic.

“I’m fine, doing well,” she replied.

Cheng Yu grunted in acknowledgment, seemingly moving to a quieter spot before continuing, “Do you have enough food and water at home? Don’t go out unless necessary for the next couple of days, especially avoid the eastern part of the city.”

“Hmm?” Shu Fu, who just happened to live in the eastern part of the city, made a questioning sound.

Cheng Yu quickly explained, “The winds were too strong last night. A large supermarket in the east suffered heavy damage. Early this morning, several groups of people took advantage of the chaos to loot, and a massive brawl broke out—people died… The news hasn’t hit the internet yet, but you’ll probably see reports soon.”

In reality, Cheng Yu was being conservative with his words. The brawl—or rather, the melee—had resulted in eight deaths and dozens of hospitalizations.

Since the dead and injured were mostly refugees from other regions living in shared rentals, the incident became a fuse, igniting long-standing tensions hidden beneath the surface.

In several shared-rental neighborhoods in the east, more outsiders were gathering. Some had already started causing trouble nearby—breaking into locals’ homes to assault, loot, and destroy. Others remained quietly holed up in the same apartments, seemingly brewing even greater chaos.

The rescue team had started equipping themselves with firearms, stun batons, tear gas, riot gear, and other supplies.

The military had also been alerted and was dispatching forces from the north.

Cheng Yu’s call was primarily to advise her to stay home and keep an eye on online news and outside developments.

He guessed she might be staying with relatives, and being dependent on others could be inconvenient. So, in the end, he added:

“…If you’re short on food or water, don’t hesitate. Just call me, and I’ll have someone bring you supplies.”

Shu Fu could easily tell whether someone’s words were just polite formalities or genuinely sincere. She wasn’t someone who couldn’t differentiate. Even though she didn’t need him to deliver supplies, she would still express her gratitude for his sincere concern.

After thanking him, she remembered there was something she wanted to buy but couldn’t find—a boat motor.

Until her raft was upgraded for 24-hour use, she needed one. Otherwise, if anything happened again, she’d be stuck rowing with her bare hands.

But she could check with Zheng Feifei about that, as the property management office and neighborhood committee could help buy supplies.

So, Shu Fu asked Cheng Yu about something else—the entry permit.

“You’re planning to go to Shacheng?”

“It’s for a friend. I’m still considering it—I just got back to Lou Yuncheng, after all.”

Cheng Yu grunted in response, then explained that it wasn’t just Shacheng; several plateau cities now required entry permits. However, since Shacheng was the largest plateau city, with development comparable to the lowland areas, more people wanted to go there.

Permits were strictly controlled. Currently, they were only open to researchers and technical personnel, direct relatives of local property owners, military personnel being reassigned for official duties, or those with commendations applying independently.

Additionally, individuals with strong financial resources willing to donate supplies to refugees or support scientific research in the plateau cities could also apply once their contributions reached a certain level.

In summary: capability, connections, and resources—the permits were issued based on merit.

For ordinary people with no connections, getting this permit was quite difficult.

But not entirely impossible.

---

“Good citizens recognized by their city can apply for a permit?” On the other end of the phone, Zheng Feifei couldn’t hold back. After receiving Shu Fu’s message, she quickly called again.

“Mm.” Shu Fu actually thought this made sense.

The Fengshang Plateau, where Shacheng was located, wasn’t just the highest plateau region in Huaguo—it was also the largest plateau area on the entire planet. The world’s highest peak was there, with an average altitude of over 4,000 meters. It was often called the roof of the world.

Even in Shu Fu’s envisioned post-apocalyptic world, where the sea level had risen dramatically, the Fengshang Plateau would still be the last remaining land.

People living there, even if they couldn’t avoid heavy rain, strong winds, hail, or thunderstorms, as long as they were safe from floods, could continue to survive.

If there are other people reborn into this world, and if the authorities in Huagou believe certain things—extracting useful information from the previous “apocalypse theory” videos and implementing various preventive measures—

Then selecting the future resident population from areas like the Fengshang Plateau, which can withstand the rising sea levels and safely persist when the apocalypse fully arrives, is a smart and rational strategy.

Shu Fu could completely understand this.

Moreover, if analyzed carefully, the requirements for this type of application aren’t extremely high for ordinary people. Being labeled a “good citizen” doesn’t mean being an “honorary citizen.”

A good citizen simply means having a clean background with no criminal record. As for being commended by the city of residence, while it is somewhat challenging, it’s not entirely impossible.

For example, a model worker who has labored diligently for decades, a brave individual who fought off criminals to save others, or a hero who risked their life to help citizens during sudden disasters… On top of that, a recommendation from a community worker would likely secure the commendation.

Zheng Feifei felt like crying. “I’m none of those…” As for what happened last night, she knew it wasn’t enough to qualify. After all, all she did was blow a whistle and shout a few times, and that was only because Shu Fu had warned her beforehand. Even the rescue call had been made by Shu Fu.

She had been worried about her mother’s injuries at the time and didn’t wait for the rescue team to arrive before heading back home.

Now it was too late for regrets.

Even so, Zheng Feifei hadn’t completely lost hope. At the very least, she now had a direction to aim for, knowing where to channel her efforts, unlike before when she had energy but nowhere to use it.

After thanking Shu Fu, she promised to work hard. After all, she worked for property management, which was, in a way, part of the community. Broadly speaking, it was still contributing to government work.

Compared to other ordinary citizens, she at least had a path for advancement.

Then the topic shifted to the material rewards issued by the neighborhood committee. She knew Shu Fu would firmly refuse them, so she collected them herself. However, she couldn’t ignore the favor, so she invited Shu Fu over for dinner at her place the next day.

Tomorrow was her day off, and she could help her mother cook. Plus, the material rewards would arrive tomorrow—she had ordered fresh produce, fish, and meat, all of which were currently in short supply. Since Shu Fu refused to take any, they could at least enjoy them together.

“Don’t. The situation is special these days. Keep the supplies for yourselves. The news might not be online yet, but something happened at a supermarket in the east of the city, and things aren’t peaceful in that area. Your job of helping residents purchase goods might also run into trouble in the next couple of days. Let’s talk about dinner another time, after things settle down…” Shu Fu’s tone was very serious.

Although Cheng Yu hadn’t been specific, she could imagine the severity of the situation. Otherwise, why would he have called her specifically to mention it, even bringing up the possibility of delivering supplies?

Zheng Feifei might not know the full picture yet, but the neighborhood committee and community were well-connected. If things truly escalated, they would likely pause the procurement services.

Hearing Shu Fu’s serious tone, Zheng Feifei immediately agreed. “You should also remember to lock your doors in the next few days. If anything happens, contact me. There’s a walkway connecting our two buildings—you can come over through the passage on the 15th floor without getting rained on.”

For some reason, ever since the falling-object incident in Suicheng, she had subconsciously trusted Shu Fu a little more.

After agreeing, Shu Fu asked about buying an outboard motor for a boat. Zheng Feifei explained that the property management handled Jixing Community and another nearby neighborhood, serving quite a few people, but they hadn’t received any requests for that kind of purchase.

Currently, the most expensive items were water-related equipment. Besides commonly used water survival gear like life jackets and life buoys—which were still available thanks to the government’s mass production—other equipment was virtually impossible to find.

Maybe she could still find a way to get an inflatable boat, but higher-grade outboard motors seemed to have disappeared from the market.

Shu Fu had already suspected as much. After all, the rescue teams were constantly moving in and out of the water, and what they needed most were outboard motors.

Lou Yuncheng was an inland city with limited need for such equipment to begin with. The market supply was never large, and eventually, all available stock would be directed towards the military and rescue teams.

After all, ordinary citizens with inflatable rafts and similar survival tools already had enough to get by.

It seemed like she’d have to ask Cheng Yu about this. But there was no rush—he was busy, and she planned to wait until the situation in the east of the city calmed down before reaching out.

---

After hanging up, Shu Fu went online to check for news related to keywords like east city, supermarket, brawl, and chaos.

She hadn’t found any news about the supermarket incident yet, but there were videos and photos of the rescue teams.

One video showed a military jeep driving by. The rear half of the jeep was semi-open, with thick rain covers pulled over the top but leaving an opening for easy access in and out of the vehicle.

The person recording the video had focused on that opening. Through the slanting rain, the rescue team members inside were clearly visible.

The man filming was exclaiming excitedly, “So cool! Damn, they look awesome!” Then he continued, in an equally thrilled tone, analyzing the gear the rescue members were wearing.

Things like anti-riot gear, tear gas, and even the model of their stun batons…

They even had guns.

The man bluntly said that the fully armed rescue team members looked so impressive that he wanted to apply to join the rescue team himself.

Some people focused on the equipment, but Shu Fu saw the tension in the atmosphere through it.

She recognized the street the jeep was driving down—it was near the supermarket where she had shopped the day before. It seemed that the incident at the supermarket was far more serious than just a brawl.

A level above “brawl” and “chaos” would be described as a “riot.”

The eastern part of the city had the highest number of refugees in all of Lou Yuncheng. Online statistics showed that the number of refugees in this area was four to five times that of local residents. Even discounting families like Zheng Feifei’s, who were ordinary evacuees from other areas, the remaining refugee population still outnumbered the locals by at least double.

For the rescue team members to be fully armed, the situation outside clearly wasn’t looking good.

The apartment windows were sturdy against wind and rain, but the front door was just a thin panel.

Moreover, this residential building was old, and there was no security door on the ground floor. Anyone could enter via the stairs to the second-floor corridor, and from there, they could access the elevators or emergency staircases without any obstacles.

Shu Fu thought about her portable protective shield. She still wasn’t clear about its exact defensive capabilities, so she needed to start testing it as soon as possible.

To test it with peace of mind, she decided to reinforce the front door first.

She went into the room and moved a heavy wardrobe from against the wall to behind the locked door using her spatial ability.

The door opened inward, so with the wardrobe blocking it, it essentially added a manual layer of defense.

After that, she retrieved a candle and a thick mattress from her space to begin some initial experiments.

The candle was for fire testing, and the mattress for testing falls from heights.

The candle was a large scented one. She placed it on the table and lit it, then retreated to the other side of the room. Activating the “portable protective shield,” she quickly ran toward the table.

The first test was to check if the shield stayed with her. Whether standing still or moving, the shield clung tightly to her body, like an air cocoon.

She reached out toward the candle flame. The flame distorted, pushed by the invisible shield, but it didn’t extinguish, and she didn’t feel any heat.

Shu Fu’s eyes lit up, and she immediately deactivated the shield.

The first experiment was a success—the shield was fireproof.

The room already had a bed and mattress. Although she didn’t sleep on them, she had brought an old set of bedding to lay casually. She added the thick mattress on top and stacked some chairs and tables beside the bed. Climbing up, she activated the shield and fell backward onto the bed.

She landed heavily on the mattress, which wobbled from the impact. The shield remained intact, but she still felt the collision on her back.

Since falling onto a mattress didn’t hurt much to begin with, she couldn’t clearly determine if the shield had absorbed part of the impact.

Next, she experimented with the shield’s encapsulation function.

When she activated the shield without touching anything, objects outside were isolated from her. However, when she touched something—like a backpack or chair—and then activated the shield, those items were considered part of her and were encapsulated along with her.

But the encapsulation had limits. It could only accommodate space for about one extra person. When she touched larger objects like the bed or table, the shield would only cover her.

Finally, Shu Fu went to the bathroom, where a foldable bath bucket was more than half full of water. She activated the shield, dipped her hand into the water, and saw the surface part as her shield kept the water from touching her skin.

This was the experiment she was most eager to conduct. Without hesitation, she climbed into the bath bucket and crouched down.

Perhaps because this world was facing a water-related apocalypse, the shield’s waterproof function was exceptional. As she entered, the water overflowed from the bucket, spilling over the edges onto the tiled floor.

It felt as if she were inside an invisible bubble, surrounded by water. Her clothes and body remained dry, and the bubble still clung to her like an air cocoon. When she raised her hand, she could even feel the buoyancy of the water.

After a while, Shu Fu noticed something odd. To confirm, she stayed in the bucket for another ten seconds before quickly climbing out and standing aside to deactivate the shield.

While the shield perfectly isolated her from water and didn’t hinder her movements, it couldn’t replenish air once submerged. After a certain period, when the air inside was consumed, it would cause suffocation.

In other words, if she used the shield underwater, she’d need an oxygen tank, or she’d risk running out of air.

To verify this, she stood in the bathroom and activated the shield, waiting the same amount of time as she had in the bath bucket. This time, there was no feeling of suffocation.

This confirmed that on land, the shield could filter outside air and continuously supply breathable oxygen inside. However, it couldn’t filter oxygen from water like fish gills could.

Even so, being waterproof, fireproof, and resistant to physical damage far exceeded her expectations for the portable protective shield.

Shu Fu concluded her experiments and summoned the drifting island house to check how much time she had used: [00:57:13].

She had tried to be quick, but the experiments still took over two minutes. Shu Fu felt a bit regretful.

After all, this was a feature unlocked only at raft level 4, and her raft was still at level 2. It would be a while before she reached level 4, and winning a second-tier gold prize wasn’t easy either. So, she needed to treasure the remaining time and not waste it carelessly.

After finishing her experiments, she didn’t move the heavy wardrobe blocking the front door. Instead, she dragged the foldable bathtub filled with water from the bathroom and placed it behind the wardrobe, adding another layer of obstacle.

She was on the 21st floor, and both windows were secured with burglar-proof bars. It was impossible for anyone outside to break in through the windows. As long as the single door was blocked, the inside of the apartment would be absolutely secure.

Shu Fu actually quite enjoyed days when she couldn’t go out because it gave her a legitimate excuse to relax completely.

She hadn’t had the chance to finish the hotpot from the day before, so she decided to bring it out for lunch. With that in mind, she pulled out a foldable sofa and a small round table from her storage space and set them up by the window in the living room balcony.

She then placed a tablet, hot cocoa, a box of cubed Hami melon, and a box of duck tongues on the table, settling in to binge-watch shows, surf the web, and scroll through her phone—embracing her lazy day routine.

Just before lunch, several websites finally reported news related to the supermarket in the eastern part of the city. Videos and photos began to appear, seemingly all released by official channels in Lou Yuncheng, rather than footage from the public.

It made sense. The incident had occurred just before dawn, and there weren’t any tall residential buildings near the supermarket. Aside from those involved in the event, few people likely knew what had happened.

The release of the news was probably meant to remind residents of the eastern district to stay vigilant over the next few days. People were advised to be cautious about their doors and windows, and to report any suspicious individuals or non-residents spotted in the neighborhood to the police or the rescue team immediately.

The rescue team’s contact number was newly issued, simple, and easy to dial.

Besides that, there were some photos shared by residents showing an increased presence of police cars and military jeeps from the rescue team on the streets. Some people had also spotted fully armed team members, and the unusual atmosphere was finally starting to be noticed.

By the afternoon, some strange news began to surface online.

One video showed someone inside a building capturing footage through a window. Across from them, in another residential building, someone suddenly smashed a window and jumped out. After the person jumped, two figures appeared in the broken window. They simply glanced down without showing any emotion.

Moments later, the people inside dragged a wardrobe to block the window, shielding themselves from the rain and outside view. The person who had jumped remained motionless in the bushes below, and no one from above came down to handle the situation.

Another video captured a scene from across the street at the supermarket. A large group of people, wielding iron rods and knives, stormed in aggressively without raincoats or umbrellas.

Soon, chaotic noises erupted from within the supermarket—shelves collapsing, mixed with screams. Eventually, someone threw objects out of the supermarket, startling the person filming from across the street, causing their camera to shake.

Shortly after, a person ran out of the supermarket, bleeding from the head and stumbling as if trying to escape, but was quickly dragged back inside by those chasing them.

Another person stood at the entrance with a stick, scanning the area. The person filming panicked, crouched down, and the video cut off.

…

The news spread quickly. In several community groups Shu Fu had joined after moving into Jixing Community, discussions started to pop up. Some well-informed people, like her, mentioned rumors about the supermarket incident.

However, so far, discussions about the incident were purely based on hearsay—no photos or videos.

It wasn’t until evening that someone in the group forwarded a photo from another group.

The photo was taken at a hospital, seemingly snapped covertly near the emergency room, with the camera tilted.

Inside the emergency room, several beds were occupied by people covered in blood. Some had deep cuts on their thighs, arms, and stomachs, with flesh mangled and intestines spilling out—a horrifying sight.

Text next to the photo read: “Pre-dawn riot at Huimin Supermarket.”

With the current scarcity of supplies, supermarkets typically had multiple times more staff on duty for 24-hour shifts than before. These injured individuals seemed to be the staff left on duty at Huimin Supermarket.

Although it was just one photo, it was gruesome enough to quickly spread across all the groups.

Combining the news from noon and the videos from the afternoon, most people had figured out what was happening in the eastern district.

Everyone felt furious, anxious, and helpless. No one had expected such human-caused disasters amid a time of natural calamities.

Some immediately sighed, saying, “Natural disasters and human-made ones always come hand in hand.”

Shu Fu messaged Zheng Feifei to remind her again: Keep an eye on the news from the eastern district. Don’t go out, and block your door with heavy objects! Make sure the door lock is jammed so they can’t pick it. Inside, place heavy items against the door—start with empty water barrels or bathtubs, then use basins and pots to collect rainwater from outside to fill them up. A filled barrel will weigh several hundred pounds and can block the door. Call the police or the rescue team if anything happens.

Zheng Feifei must have been reading the group chats too, as she replied quickly: Got it. The neighborhood committee already announced before noon that work would be suspended for the next two days. I’m home with my parents. But you—be extra careful since you’re alone.

At 8 PM, Shu Fu checked the obstacles behind her front door one more time and then deployed her raft.

Things outside were looking bad today, so she planned to sleep early and get some rest while it was still calm nearby.

Although she felt a bit tense, she wasn’t scared. If the front door couldn’t hold, she could activate the raft’s protective shield, making the entire raft undetectable. Even if someone broke into the apartment, they wouldn’t notice her.

By comparison, she was more worried about Zheng Feifei and her family.

Zheng Feifei was one of the key figures tied to her progress bar task. She didn’t know what kind of irreversible consequences might occur if something happened to her.

And beyond the task, Zheng Feifei was also her friend.

Shu Fu lay in bed, tossing and turning for a while before she finally drifted off to sleep.

In a daze, she suddenly heard her phone vibrating. This time, since she hadn’t silenced it, the ringtone also rang out.

She instinctively sensed something was wrong and woke up instantly, answering the call.

As expected, it was Zheng Feifei on the line. Her voice was low, with a hint of trembling and panic:

“Shu Fu… I just saw… a lot of people sneaking into our neighborhood. Some of them have already gone to Buildings 1 and 2, and another group is heading toward our building.”